Does anybody out there in this deep void know of, or have a guide on applying a piano black finish on metal?
Bill Owen from MNPCTECH has a great tuturial...check out his www.casemodblog.com I'm sure he'll have a link either there, or at www.MNPCTECH.com
Black Lacquer is what they use for that piano finish.. I'm not sure how that would be done and what kind of primer you would use.. but i imagine you could mimic the effect with a high quality gloss black and lots of sanding in between each layer.
Indeed, lacquer is what the traditional "piano finish" is made of. It is an extremely time-consuming- although not terribly difficult- process and the first thing that Ryan Cooper has to decide is what he wants to end up with. Just like metal finishing, most people confuse "shiny/glossy" with "polished". A typical paint finish achieves shine through technology- the paint itself contains lots of plasticizers and clear components, which are themselves highly reflective. Thus, a fairly uneven coat of finish appears shiny. A "piano finish" achieves it's depth and reflectivity through surface prep...if the surface and paint coat are dead flat and smooth, the finish will appear shiny even if the paint itself is not especially glossy. Lacquer is the paint of choice- even though it's not particularly durable- because of it's fast drying time, which allows for multiple coats and the ability to quickly sand them off. Because "sanding them off" is the key to the finish. Multiple thin coats- possibly dozens- with block sanding in between, gives you a final finish that is extremely even and consistent. In the process, most of the paint applied is actually removed during sanding. This is in contrast to a modern paint finish where most of the paint sprayed stays on and only the most egregious bumps are removed...you're counting on the paint itself for the gloss effect. A true piano finish would be completely unsuitable for a computer case anyway. Most of the metal panels- say, the side panels- are too flexible to be truly flat (the 2mm thick panels on some Lian-li's would possibly be an exception) and there are too many sharp edges to chip during construction/ maintenance. This is not even considering that every single dust mote and fingerprint would stand out glaringly...you'd need a full time maid to maintain it properly. Finally, none of the above considers the material you're applying the paint on. It can - and certainly would- be argued that part of the beauty of a true piano finish is due to the "warmth" of the wood it's applied to. This could not be achieved by starting with a metal surface. I'm drifting further into aesthetic technobabble than you probably wanted. You can just Google "piano finish" and see what I'm talking about.
I think that's what i was trying to get at by saying mimic, because true piano finish really does require the sturdyness of wood or at least a thicker metal. A Piano finish shouldn't really leave any of the woodgrain viewable. But just straight black lacquer with no filler would leave that woodgrain and the "warmth" intact. Whatever the case, you gave a really good explanation. I still think you'd be able to achieve a decent mimic of a piano finish. You still will want to sand and get things as flat as possible by sanding each layer like Geektechnica said. Use some good enamel spray paint for primer and do the final coats with something like a nice gloss black car paint. If you do go this route, make sure your primer and the final coat work well together or use what the final paint recommends for a primer. Sometimes they don't work well together and end up going all "orange-peel" or worse.
Thank you Langer I wrote this article on using spray paint for creating a mirror finish http://www.mnpctech.com/case-mod-paint-computer-pc-case-mod-how-to.html I also posted my techniques for applying and wetsanding aersol paint
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